By the time this posts, I will be finished with Copper Lake Confidential, my Harlequin Romantic Suspense for next spring, but right now I'm in the final stages. Some call it the black moment -- where everything seems lost or the villain makes his big move or the hero/heroine are in a life-and-death situation.
I call it the word-count count-down. At the moment, I've got approximately 3000 words left before I reach the desired length. Unfortunately, I've got about 6000 words of story left to tell.
You'd think after all these years I'd have a better sense of fitting story into words allotted, but this happens every time. And it's never the other way -- not enough story for the limit. I am almost always over. If you've ever talked to me, this won't be a surprise. Why say in five words what I can say in twenty-five?
I will have figured it out within the next 36 hours. It'll still be a tad long, but I'll keep it to just a tad. I just wish that once a story would pace itself out so that I can avoid the word-count count-down.
Showing posts with label word count. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word count. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Word Counts
Romances, especially category romances, are unfairly characterized as formulaic. Sure, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins back girl, they live happily ever after. Of course they do -- that's what makes a book a romance novel. A mystery wouldn't be a mystery if there wasn't a puzzle to solve, and a science fictin novel wouldn't be science fiction if it didn't take place in a different universe/time/space.
One place that category romances do have a formula is in word count. The books are published as series, so all the titles in a particular line, such as Harlequin Romantic Suspense, are roughly the same length. But to people who point that out as a negative, I'd just like to say this: try to write a book that includes a romance and a suspense plot and do it all so the reader is totally satisfied when s/he finishes and within a proscribed length.
It ain't easy.
With an unlimited word count, you can meander your way to the end (if your editor will let you, and if she will, the reader probably won't, unless your writing is so lyrical that they don't care you're meandering). But when you have limited words to tell your story, every one has to count.
It's an art.
One place that category romances do have a formula is in word count. The books are published as series, so all the titles in a particular line, such as Harlequin Romantic Suspense, are roughly the same length. But to people who point that out as a negative, I'd just like to say this: try to write a book that includes a romance and a suspense plot and do it all so the reader is totally satisfied when s/he finishes and within a proscribed length.
It ain't easy.
With an unlimited word count, you can meander your way to the end (if your editor will let you, and if she will, the reader probably won't, unless your writing is so lyrical that they don't care you're meandering). But when you have limited words to tell your story, every one has to count.
It's an art.
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